{"id":245835,"date":"2026-05-30T00:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/breaking-cody-rhodes-and-gunthers-face-to-face-turns-physical-days-before-clash-in-italy\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T00:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:49:13","slug":"breaking-cody-rhodes-and-gunthers-face-to-face-turns-physical-days-before-clash-in-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/breaking-cody-rhodes-and-gunthers-face-to-face-turns-physical-days-before-clash-in-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Cody Rhodes and Gunther&#8217;s face-to-face turns physical days before Clash in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5173404\" data-slug-id=\"2788589\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cody Rhodes and Gunther had a confrontation tonight on WWE SmackDown. The two stars will be competing in a marquee match at Clash in Italy this Sunday night. <\/p>\n<p>Gunther and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/cody-rhodes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Cody Rhodes<\/a> had a face-to-face in the final segment of this week&#8217;s SmackDown ahead of their Undisputed WWE Championship match at Clash in Italy. The Ring General claimed that Rhodes was a symbol of the crumbling American dream. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\nThanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The former leader of Imperium claimed that Rhodes always had to make SmackDown about himself. Rhodes claimed that Gunther didn&#8217;t want the extra responsibility that came with being champion, and all he cared about was what happened in the ring. <\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The Barcelona crowd responded by singing Rhodes&#8217; name, before The American Nightmare suggested that Gunther maybe did care about everything else because of his dramatic weight loss before joining the main roster. <\/p>\n<p>The 40-year-old claimed that being the champion is addictive, and Gunther is just as sick as he is. Rhodes claimed that the former champion was going to find out at Clash in Italy that he was simply not that good. The champion went to exit the ring, but the challenger physically grabbed his arm to prevent him from leaving. <\/p>\n<p>The two stars then had a stare-down in the ring before Gunther boasted about retiring Goldberg, AJ Styles, and John Cena. He promised Rhodes that he was going to choke him and take the title from him at Clash in Italy to end the show. <\/p>\n<p>Rhodes captured the Undisputed WWE Championship ahead of WrestleMania 42 by defeating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/drew-mcintyre\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Drew McIntyre<\/a>. The Scottish Warrior has not been seen since his loss to Jacob Fatu at The Show of Shows. <\/p>\n<h2>Major WWE star takes personal shot at Cody Rhodes<\/h2>\n<p>Gunther took a personal shot at Cody Rhodes ahead of their title match at Clash in Italy. <\/p>\n<p>In an interview on <em>ESPN&#8217;s Get Up<\/em>, the Austrian star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/news-cody-rhodes-accused-attention-seeker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">claimed Rhodes was the golden boy of the company<\/a> and was always looking for attention.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Well, Cody is obviously the golden boy of WWE, and he seems very comfortable in that position, and I have done so much in such a short time since I\u2019m in WWE, and I think it\u2019s time to get even with Cody, and I\u2019d like to disrupt his comfort,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"sportskeeda-embed\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/twitter-embed\">\n<div class=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/twitter-embed\">\n<div class=\"profile-card\">\n<p><span><span>\u201cI promised Goldberg that I would choke him out, and I did. I promised AJ Styles that I would choke him out, and I did. And I promised your big role model, John Cena, that I would make him tap out, and I did. And now I&#8217;m promising you that on Sunday, I am gonna choke you out. I<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It will be interesting to see if Cody Rhodes can retain his title at Clash in Italy this weekend. <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-tagline bottom\" data-tab=\"bottom\">\n<p>Get all the hottest wrestling news FIRST by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=sportskeeda.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\" class=\"bottom_tagline_link\" data-tab=\"bottom\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img style=\"background: none;\" data-lazy=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Robert Lentini<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/wwe\/news-breaking-cody-rhodes-gunther-s-face-to-face-turns-physical-days-clash-italy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cody Rhodes and Gunther had a confrontation tonight on WWE SmackDown. The two stars will be competing in a marquee match at Clash in Italy this Sunday night. Gunther and Cody Rhodes had a face-to-face in the final segment of this week&#8217;s SmackDown ahead of their Undisputed WWE Championship match at Clash in Italy. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}